A Bridge too long for United

2nd placed Manchester United travel to Stamford Bridge to take on table-topping Chelsea in the Premier League this Sunday. It’s a match that might well decide who takes the lead and who needs to play catch-up for the rest of the season.

Chelsea have a 2 point lead over United in the League and start as favourites to widen that gap on Sunday. The Blues are unbeaten at the Bridge under manager Carlo Ancelotti and are yet to concede a goal at home since beating Hull on the opening day. In fact, the team from London has not lost to United at the Bridge since April 2002, a record that might well remain intact after Sunday’s clash.

Dangerous Duo: Drogba & Anelka

Manchester United have been far from impressive so far this season. United’s shambolic defence was exposed a fortnight ago in the 2-1 defeat against Liverpool at Anfield and more recently in the Champions League encounter against CSKA Moscow, when they conceded 3 goals at Old Trafford. And it doesn’t get better for United as Rio Ferdinand is certain to miss the tie against Chelsea. Johnny Evans is expected to fill in for Ferdinand and, along with Nemanja Vidic, will have the unenviable task of keeping the deadly duo of Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka at bay.  Drogba seems to be in the form of his life and has scored 6 goals in the last 5 appearances in all competitions. How effectively United’s defence can stand up to the challenge will decide whether the Red Devils take away any points from the Bridge.

Sir Alex Ferguson has not been able to fill the void left by the summer sale of  Cristiano Ronaldo. Antonio Valencia has not quite raised his game at United while Gabriel Obertan is yet to impress in his couple of appearances. And the less mentioned about Nani, the better. Ferguson will look to the old-warhorse Paul Scholes and Darren Fletcher to anchor the mid-field. Along with the magical Ryan Giggs, they will have to impose themselves on the experienced Chelsea mid-field comprising of Frank Lampard, Deco, Joe Cole and Michael Essien. Ferguson will also hope that Wayne Rooney, who recently became a father, continues his brilliant form.

Rooney will be the key for United

i Predict: Chelsea 2 United 1

United will have to have to come out all guns blazing if they hope to take anything away from the Bridge. Chelsea tend to play better in the second-half and have scored 20 of their 28 goals this season after half-time. The Red Devils have  failed to beat a top 4 side away from home since they won at Liverpool in 2007 and there is little to suggest that Ferguson’s side will be able to correct that against Chelsea at the Bridge.

 

Class takes on Money in the Manchester Derby

The 152nd Manchester Derby promises to be the most intriguing ever as Champions United take on the so-called new big boys Manchester City in a clash of Class against Money on Sunday.

First the Money

The blue half of Manchester has been basking in the glory of the money  brought in by the Abu Dhabi United Group’s takeover of the club last year. City spent close to 120 million euros in the summer to bring in names such as Emmanuel Adebayor, Kolo Toure, Gareth Barry, Carlos Tevez  and Roque Santa Cruz. Last week, City proved that those millions spent in the summer were good enough to beat one of the Big 4 (i.e. if you consider Arsenal Big 4 material anymore. I don’t. Find out why) when it brushed aside Arsenal 4-2 in a highly entertaining encounter. This weekend’s derby against United at Old Trafford might prove whether that money can take City to greater heights.

On the contrary, Manchester United made a fortune with the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid for 80 million pounds. They spent little of that amount on acquiring the services of wingers Gabriel Obertan, who is yet to play a game for United, and Anotnio Valencia. Another big name to depart from United was Carlos Tevez. The Argentinian striker could not reach an agreement with Sir Alex Ferguson and subsequently joined rivals Manchester City for 25 million pounds.

Let’s talk about Class

Class or Money?

Manchester United have had a glorious run in the last 3 years, winning 3 successive Premier Leagues, the Champions League in 2008 and  an appearance in Champions League final last season. They also added the League Cup as well as the FIFA Club World Cup in their kitty last season. City, on the other hand, won their last trophy of any sorts back in 1976, when they won the League Cup. Their best finish in the last 3 seasons has been the 9th place achieved in 2007-08.

Teams in form

City’s manager Mark Hughes will have plenty of reason to believe that his team can win at Old Trafford. The Eastland’s club will go into the derby match on the back of it’s best-ever start to a season since 1961-62, having won all of its 4 matches in the league so far this season. Also, last weekend’s match against Arsenal was the first time City conceded a goal this season.

United, on the other hand, seem to have got into their groove after the early setback against Burnley. The Red Devils have won 4 successive matches since that defeat to Burnley, including the mid-week win over Besiktas in their Champions League opener.

Having looked at both the teams, I will put my money on United. Here is why:

1. Home advantage – Old Trafford

Manchester City have only won one of their 12 trips to Old Trafford in the Premier League, back in February 2008. Since that match, United have lost just one of their 26 games at Old Trafford (against Liverpool in March 2009), winning 23.

2. Injury/Suspension-hit City

Despite having spent all those millions, City find themselves with just one top striker in Craig Bellamy. Carlos Tevez will miss his return to Old Trafford due to a knee injury, Robinho is suffering from an ankle injury while Roque Santa Cruz is nursing his knee since his arrival at City. The biggest miss, though, will be Emmanuel Adebayor. The former Arsenal striker has looked in fine form, netting in each of City’s 4 matches in the league. His 3-match ban, resulting from his kicking skills (not of the ball) against Arsenal, couldn’t have come at a more inappropriate time for City.

3. Red-hot United

United might not have set the League on fire yet, but their performance against Tottenham Hotspur last weekend was filled with class. Despite going a goal down in the first minute, United kept their composure and displayed a performance worthy of Champions. They looked in complete control against a Tottenham side, which had a terrific start to the season under Harry Redknapp and had already beaten Liverpool. The old warhorses Giggs and Scholes were at their best and proved that there is no substitute for class. Wayne Rooney, too, has been at top of his game and could make that vital difference against City.

Wayne Rooney has been in top form

i Predict: United 2 City 1

It will be a close match but I expect United to take the opportunity to put City firmly in their place. And for Sir Alex Ferguson to tell all those looking at the signboard below: “That is the wrong side of Manchester!”

 

It’s time for the clash of the Champions

Pep Guardiola wants to be the first manager to win back-to-back titles, Sir Alex Ferguson calls it the biggest prize in Football, Carlo Ancelotti says it is the trophy he wants to win at Chelsea and Manuel Pellegrini hopes to see Real Madrid in the final on 22 May at the Santiago Bernabeu. It’s the clash of the best teams in Europe as the UEFA Champions League  2009-10 begins tonight. With as many as 8 teams making their debuts in this year’s competition, we can expect plenty of  excitement.  Let’s look at all the teams in the Group stage.

Group A

German Giants Bayern Munich have Juventus along with Bordeaux and debutants Maccabi Haifa FC for company in Group A. Having managed to retain Frank Ribery and add Arjen Robben in the summer, Bayern Munich will look to top the Group ahead of Juventus. Bordeaux will hope to spring a surprise while Maccabi Haifa FC will surely bring some joy to its Israeli fans, who will watch a Champions League match played on their soil for the first time.

Group B

Last year’s losing finalist, Manchester United will have to overcome  the elements  in addition to its opponents as it is drawn in the same group as Wolfsburg, Besiktas and CSKA Moscow.  Long trips to Russia and Turkey in the midst of a busy domestic schedule  have never been good for United and Sir Alex Ferguson will know that qualification is not going to be a walk in the park, especially without Cristiano Ronaldo, who was instrumental in United’s run to the final in each of the last 2 campaigns.

Group C

3 previous winners Real Madrid, AC Milan and Olympique de Marseille are joined by FC Zurich in this group of death. Madrid have all the pressure on its shoulder with big names – Kaka, Ronaldo and Benzema – joining the ranks in the summer. The fact that the final is scheduled to be played at the Santiago Bernabeu should be added impetus for the players to go beyond the last 16 for the 1st time in 6 years. Milan, without Kaka, will be no less dangerous and Marseille will definitely make it a fight for the top 2.

Group D

Chelsea’s manager Carlo Ancelotti will have to overcome the challenge of FC Porto, Atletico Madrid and APOEL FC in the group stage. Chelsea is tipped to be one of the top contenders for the trophy this year, but Ancelotti will be aware of the threat Atletico Madrid and FC Porto pose. Cypriot champions APOEL would be happy to get any points from their matches.

Group E

Liverpool might find it tough to win the domestic title but manager Rafael Benitez knows what it takes to win in Europe, having done it in 2005. Benitez faces the relatively easy challenge of Olympique Lyon, Fiorentina and Hungarian Champions Debreceni VSC. Lyon might find qualification for the last 16 difficult without the services of charismatic striker Karim Benzema, who joined Real Madrid in the summer.

Group F

Champions Barcelona will hope to be the first team to defend its title as it takes on Italian giants Inter Milan, Dynamo Kiev and newcomers from Russia FC Rubin Kazan. The goal-scorer for Barcelona in last year’s final, Samuel Eto’ will hope to fire against his former club after joining Inter in the summer. In exchange Barcelona acquired Inter’s striker Zlatan Abramovich and Pep Guardiola will hope his new signing delivers much more than he did for his previous club. Inter’s manager Jose Mourinho has failed to live upto the  club’s European expectations and he will hope that Eto’ will make an important difference to Inter’s fortunes. Dynamo Kiev could spring a surprise with Andriy Shevchenko at its disposal.

Group G

This group will see the lesser known names in Europe making their mark in the Champions League. Spanish side Sevilla is joined by Vfb Stuttgart, Rangers and debutants from Romania FC Unirea Urziceni. Sevilla will fancy its chances to qualify for the next stage while Rangers will want to make its mark ahead of Stuttgart.

Group H

Arsene Wenger will heave a sigh of relief as his young Arsenal team  avoided any of the big names in the group stage. The Gunners will be up against Olympiacos, AZ Alkmaar and Belgian champions Standard de Liège. Alkmaar and Standard de Liège are relatively unknown entities  in Europe and could spring a surprise or two.

 

A mouthwatering weekend in the Premier League

After the players sweated it out in the world cup qualifiers, its back to club football. And what a lineup we have in the Premier league. The top 6 teams in the table right now go head-to-head in 3 mouthwatering matches this Saturday.

Tottenham Hotspur v Manchester United

Tottenham Hotspur has an opportunity to prove its credentials as a top-4 team as it takes on Manchester United and Chelsea in back-to-back Premier League matches. Tottenham has got off to its best ever start in the Premier League with  4 successive victories, including a win over Liverpool on the opening day,  but manager Harry Redknapp will be aware of Tottenham’s poor record against Manchester United. The Lilywhites have not beaten the Red Devils in their last 16 meetings, with last year’s corresponding fixture ending in a goalless draw.

On the other hand, Sir Alex Ferguson will want a positive start to a testing week as United follow the visit to White Hart Lane with a trip to Turkey to take on Besiktas in their Champions League opener. That is followed by an even spicier than normal Manchester derby against cash rich City. The come-from-behind win over Arsenal in the last match proved that United were up and running for the season and Ferguson will hope his team exhibits the same strength and character throughout the tough week ahead.

The key battle will be the match-up between Aaron Lennon and Patrice Evra. The right winger has had a sensational start to the season and has been terrorising defenders with his pace and his crosses into the box. That said, if there is any full back in the League who can stop him, it’s Evra.

With Tottenham having conceded in each of its matches this season and both Wayne Rooney and Jermaine Defoe in red-hot form, one can expect plenty of goals in this exciting encounter.

i Predict : Tottenham 2 Man Utd. 2

Manchester City v Arsenal

Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure face Arsenal for the first time since their summer transfers to Manchester City. Adebayor has scored in each of City’s 3 matches in the League this season and would love to add to his tally against his old club. Much is expected of City after its big-money signings in the summer (I predicted a top-4 finish for City in my season-opening preview) and this will be Mark Hughes’ first real test to prove that it was money well-spent. Hughes will be hoping for a repeat of the result of last year’s corresponding fixture  when City beat Arsenal 3-0 at the City of Manchester Stadium. Hughes, though, will be without the services of Carlos Tevez, who twisted his knee against Brazil last weekend.

Arsenal head back to Manchester after its 2-1 loss to United couple of weeks ago. That defeat exposed the mental weakness in the Arsenal squad and Arsene Wenger will be hoping his young squad can face upto the challenge from the Blue end of Manchester this time around. Andre Arshavin, who scored Arsenal’s lone goal in that defeat to United, will miss the match after aggravating the groin problem he suffered against United. Wenger will be hoping Van Persie and Co. deliver against a City defence that is yet to concede a goal in the League this season.

Expect Adebayor to put one past his old club in this match-up which should establish City’s arrival to the top league.

i Predict: Manchester City 2 Arsenal 0

Stoke City v Chelsea

The match might not showcase football to savour but it should be an exciting  clash nevertheless. Table-topping Chelsea will visit the Britannia stadium vary of Stoke’s home record, which includes 3 consecutive wins. Stoke City are 5th in the table and manager manager Tony Pulis will look to erase memories of his last meeting with Chelsea when Stoke was robbed of victory by 2 late goals after having led till the 88th minute of the match. Chelsea have looked in superb form so far this season and inspite of the transfer ban imposed by FIFA, manager Carlo Ancelloti should not find it difficult to rally his troops to get the right result. Didier Drogba and Nicolas Anelka will look to continue their goal-scoring partnership upfront while defensively, John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho will have their task cutout against Rory Delap’s fizzing throw-ins.

Expect a scrappy encounter with Stoke making life difficult for Chelsea.

i Predict: Stoke City 1 Chelsea 1

 

The Big Clash – Manchester United v Arsenal

Manchester United take on Arsenal at Old Trafford on Saturday in the first big match of the season between the big four clubs. United-Arsenal matches are always crucial and this one more so as whichever team emerges victorious could well go on to dominate the league this season. 

Arsenal will be full of confidence as they travel to Old Trafford on the back of 4 successive wins, in which they scored 15 goals. Arsene Wenger’s young guns have enthralled everyone with their free scoring football so far this season. They kick started the season in style with a 6-1 demolition of Everton followed by a 4-1 drubbing of Portsmouth, results which have instilled great faith in Arsenal’s supporters. Arsenal also cruised past Celtic into the group stages of the Champions League in mid-week with Wenger fielding a young side with an average age of 23.9 years. Arsene Wenger will hope that his youth brigade continues its goal scoring spree but he will know that it is not going to be a walk in the park against the Red Devils.

Manchester United have had a stuttering start to their campaign. A 1-0 win over Birmingham in the opening match was followed by a shock defeat to Burnley. United bounced back to thrash Wigan Athletic 5-0 in an amazing 2nd half performance which saw Michael Owen get his first goal for United and Dimitar Berbatov get his first for the season. Sir Alex Ferguson has always relished his clashes with Arsene Wenger and will surely motivate his team to face up to the Gunners’ challenge. The last time these 2 sides met was in the Semi finals of the Champions League where United dumped Arsenal out of the tournament with a 1-0 win at Old Trafford followed by a 3-1 scoreline at the Emirates.

This time around though, United are without Cristiano Ronaldo, who was the key figure in that 2nd leg victory. However, Ferguson still has enough fire power to put it past Arsenal on Saturday. Wayne Rooney loves playing against Arsenal and would love to add a few to his tally of 101 goals for United. Dimitar Berbatov had an excellent outing against Wigan and Michael Owen could just turn out to be the trump card. United will be without Rio Ferdinand and Wes Brown is expected to fill in. Arsenal will miss captain Cesc Fabregas and it will be interesting to see who creates the play in the midfield in his absence. Wenger is expected to start both Robin Van Persie, who were rested against Celtic, and Andre Arshavin. They also have Eduardo, who could qualify for the Croatian Olympic Synchronised Diving team after his penalty-winning theatrics against Celtic. The key though could be Thomas Vermaelen, who will face his first major test as he come sup against Wayne Rooney.

Will Wenger’s boys triumph or will Ferguson’s Red Devils show their class? One important point to note is that Arsenal have conceded a goal in 3 of their 4 matches while United have just conceded 1 – the unstoppable volley by Burnley’s Robbie Blake. If United score, Arsenal will have a tough time because they cannot expect to score as any as they have done agaisnt other opponents so far. United might be a real test for Arsenal’s defence and how well the Gunners defence stands upto the United challenge could well decide the fate of the match.

 

 

Its Kick-Off time!!

Its kick-off time again as the English Premier League begins today with an exciting new season ready to unfold. The season promises plenty of action and lots of magical moments as the best teams in England battle it out for the coveted trophies. With the FIFA World Cup to follow at the end of this season, players will be all the more determined to make an impression at club level football this season. Lets have a look at the teams that might be running for the top prizes this season.

Manchester United

Players come and players leave at United. One factor that does not change for the Red Devils is Sir Alex Ferguson. As Ferguson begins his 24th season at the helm of United, he will be without the services of the magical Cristiano Ronaldo and the run machine Carlos Tevez. Wingers Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan as well as marksman Michael Owen have been added to the squad. This could be the season in which Wayne Rooney comes into his own as he shoulders the responsibility of producing the goals. With the likes of Scholes, Giggs and Van Der Sar, Ferguson has a fine mix of experience and youth at his disposal as United look to make it 4 successive Premier League titles and also go one better than Liverpool with their 19th title overall. One important factor that remains to be seen is whether this relatively young United side can keep it going with the pressures of the FA Cup, Champions League and Carling Cup all adding to their  Premier League campaign.

The Big 4

Chelsea

Chelsea has had 5 managers since they last won the title in 2005. The latest is Carlo Ancelotti, who takes charge a year after a similar experiment with Luiz Filipe Scolari failed miserably. With the FA Cup last season the only notable trophy in Chelsea’s cabinet in the last 2 years, Ancelotti has his task cut out. He will know that owner Roman Ambramovich will not settle for another season without the title. Ancelotti has taken the first few steps in the right direction by winning the Community Shield last week, pipping United in penalties. That performance showed that Chelsea will be the biggest contender to stop United’s run at the top. Chelsea’s poor performance against the big clubs proved to be their nemesis in the league last season and Ancelotti will be looking to improve that. Chelsea has been the least affected by the transfer season amongst the top 4 and has more or less the same look to the squad as last season. John Terry, Frank Lampard and the others will be hoping that, under Ancelotti, Chelsea are able to repeat the success that Jose Mourinho had bought to the club.

Liverpool

Liverpool came close to ending their title drought last year as they led the League for a short while before finishing 2nd behind United. Liverpool has not won the League since 20 years and with no Xabi Alonso in the squad this season, Rafael Benitez will have a tough time keeping up with the top teams. Liverpool’s over dependence on Steven Gerrard and Fernando Toress last season was exposed as the team struggled to sustain a winning run without them. With Alberto Aquilani the only significant addition to the Liverpool squad, Liverpool might have a tough season, especially if Gerrard and Toress pick up any sort of injury in the season.

Arsenal

The hopefuls. That’s what the Arsenal fans are at the start of every season. This season seems to be no different. This season, Arsenal will continue to delight the fans with their trademark beautiful football but will it be enough to take them to the top. Emmanuel Adebayor and Kolo Toure left for Manchester City in the hope of winning some silverware and with no significant signing in the summer, it looks like it will be another frustrating season ahead for Arsenal. With Arsene Wenger persisting with the not-so-successful youth policy, Arsenal’s chances at mounting a serious challenge for the League title look slim.  Aston Villa made them sweat for 4th place last year and this season the big money spenders Manchester City seems to be the biggest threat. Though Andrei Arshavin looked in great form after his arrival in the 2nd half of last season, whether he, along with Robin Van Persie and Cesc Fabregas, can inspire a young squad to achieve some thing this season remains to be seen.

Manchester City

Machester City

 

Its not often that one considers a team that has never won a trophy in the last 40 years, a serious contender in the League. But when a team splurges close to 100 million pounds in the transfer season, one has to sit up and take notice. Carlos Tevez, Gareth Barry, Roque Santa Cruz, Kolo Toure and  Emmanuel Adebayor have all been added to City’s squad and with Robinho and Stephen Ireland looking to improve on their last season performances, City will be more than a handful for other teams. History has it that spending big money does not always guarantee results but City surely have a strong enough squad to pip Arsenal to the 4th spot. Whether Mark Hughes can guide the stars to a trophy will be seen as the season unfolds, but Manchester City will surely pose a strong challenge for a top 4 finish.

Other Teams to Look out for

Along with Manchester City, the other teams who could make a difference will be Aston Villa, Everton and Tottenham Hotspurs. Though these teams will not be title contenders, they will be hoping to break the strangle hold of the Big 4 clubs on the Premier League.

After a horrible start last season, which saw the departure of manager Juande Ramos, Tottenham Hotspur finished a respectable 8th last season under the guidance of manager Harry Redknapp. Spurs have a strong squad with the likes of Roman Pavlychenko, Luka Modric, Robbie Keane and Jermaine Defoe and the addition of Peter Crouch in the summer has added to their strength. Harry Redknapp attained considerable success in his previous job at Portsmouth and will look to repeat the same at Tottenham.

Aston Villa ran Arsenal close last time and under Martin O’Neil, Villa have looked good in the past few seasons. However, with Gareth Barry moving to Manchester City and Martin Laursen retired, Villa will have a tough job repeating last year’s success.

Everton have been consistent under David Moyes and will look to improve on last year’s 5th place finish. However, Moyes will have a tough job at his hand considering the lack of depth of the Everton squad and no new additions in the summer and might do well to even repeat last year’s performance.

i Predict

Here is my prediction for the final top 6 in the League this season

1. Manchester United

2. Chelsea

3. Liverpool

4. Manchester City

5. Tottenham Hotspur

6. Arsenal

 

Community Shield – Curtain Raiser to the new season

Will United lift the shield again?

Manchester United will look to make it a hat-trick of victories when they take on defending F.A. Cup Champions, Chelsea, in the Community Shield – the annual curtain raiser to the English Football Season. The English Premiership Champions lifted the shield in 2007 by beating Chelsea on penalties following a 1-1 draw, before doing the same to Portsmouth last season, after a goal-less stalemate.

Both teams have undergone notable changes following a dramatic transfer season. Manchester United will be without Cristiano Ronaldo, who left to be part of the new Galactico era at Real Madrid following the biggest football transfer deal ever. His replacement, Antonio Valencia, will want to prove his worth in what would be his official debut for the club. United will also be without Carlos Tevez, who joined rivals Manchester City. The biggest surprise, though, has been the arrival of Michael Owen at United. The world class striker was acquired in a free transfer from Newcastle United and might just be United’s trump card in front of goal.

For Chelsea, the most notable change has been off-the field. Carlo Ancelotti arrived at the club as the new manager after winning everything possible with Italian Giants AC Milan. Though a similar experiment with Luiz Felipe Scolari failed miserably last year, Ancelotti might have a different experience considering his success at club level football. Another talking point in the transfer season was John Terry’s flirtation with Manchester City before finally declaring his allegiance to the the only club he’s ever played for.

Both United and Chelsea have looked good in the preseason matches. United have won 6 out of their 7 matches including a 2-0 victory over Valencia last week. Their only defeat came against Bayern Munich in the Audi Cup, where they lost on penalties after a goalless stalemate. Chelsea have been unbeaten having won 4 out of their 5 matches with the remaining match being a draw against Reading.

Both Sir Alex Ferguson and Carlo Ancelotti will like to kick-start their seasons on a winning note. Whoever has an upper hand in the clash between 2 of the best mangers in world football, might well go on to have an upper hand in the race for the Premiership title.

 

Bandra-Worli Sealink: Nothing to go ga-ga about

Bandra-Worli Sealink

The Bandra-Worli Sealink (BWSL) is finally going to be thrown open to the people of Mumbai tonight. The 5.6 km bridge, connecting Bandra to Worli Seaface, is being labeled as a modern Indian Engineering marvel. The sealink is expected to reduce travelling time from over 1 hour to around 7 mins. It should alleviate the traffic congestion in the Mahim-Dadar-Worli areas and should make travel between the city and the north-western suburbs a lot easier.

BWSL is India’s first sealink and the cable-stayed bridge is certainly a commendable structure. However, it  is surely not a great achievement, considering that the sealink took 10 years to complete. In comparison, our neighbour, and biggest economic rival, China, has built 6 sea-bridges over the past 5 years. Another 3 are under construction.  Even the 5-km long Second Severn Crossing in the UK, with a 450-m-long cable-stayed main bridge, similar to the Bandra-Worli Sealink, was completed in 4 years. Another one in Denmark, the 7.5 km Oresund sea-bridge, was functional in 4 and 1/2 years.

Poor planning coupled with disputes between the government and the contractors HCC, caused the BWSL to be delayed by over 5 years. It also contributed in increasing the cost of the project from an initial Rs. 400 crore to a whooping Rs.1640 crore. Maybe the government should learn a thing or two about infrastructure development from China. The 7.6-km-long Sutong sea-bridge is a perfect example of how quickly China executes projects. Built across the Yangtze river to connect the two prosperous cities of Suzhou and Nantong in eastern China, the Sutong bridge was completed in an extraordinary seven months.

With the Worli-Nariman Point and the Sewri-Nhava Sheva Sealinks in the pipeline, it is important that the Government learns from its mistakes and follows a systematic development plan so as to ensure that the people of Mumbai do not have to wait for these projects as long as they did for the BWSL.

(Ref: The Mumbai Project – Hindustan Times)

 

Indian women cricket team – not being given their due recognition

Even as the whole country debated the reasons for the exit of Mahendra Singh Dhoni and his boys’ from the ICC World Twenty20 Cup, the Indian Women team quietly moved into the semi-finals of the ICC Women World Twenty20 Cup.

The Indian women’s team will play the New Zealand women’s team on Thursday for a place in the final. This compared to the dismal performance of their male counterparts, who crashed out after losing all 3 matches in Super 8s. While the whole of Indian media went about dissecting the causes of the  team’s failure, the performance of the women’s team has virtually gone unnoticed. Even the win over Pakistan by the women’s team was not worthy enough to be mentioned by the media. The same media could not stop talking about the men’s encounter against Pakistan, even though it was just a warm-up match.

This media apathy towards women cricket is appalling, to say the least. The media covers male cricketers extensively and makes them superstars of the country. On the contrary, the women cricketers hardly find any mention. In a so-called cricket-crazy nation, the performance of the women cricketers often finds little coverage. Are they playing with any less passion compared to the men? Their performance in the ongoing ICC Women Twenty20 Cup proves the contrary.

Cricket in India is now a billion dollar sport. However, women cricket gets very little money. While the men benefit from huge sponsorship deals and rake in the moolah in tournaments such as the IPL, the women have to make do with very little monetary benefit. The men’s team was showered with huge cash awards by the BCCI when they won the ICC Twenty20 Cup in 2007. It will be interesting to see how much, if anything, the BCCI gives to the women’s team if they clinch the trophy this year.

I hope the India women do well and bring home the cup. The men won it in 2007 and were given a rousing reception atop a bus ride through Mumbai. It looks unlikely that the success of the women’s team will be celebrated similarly. Though it might at least force the media to stand up and take notice of the performance.

PS: Interestingly, the men’s counterparts of all the 4 semifinalists (India, New Zealand, Australia and England) of the women’s tournament, failed to make it to the semi-finals of their respective tournament.

 

Twenty20 Cup – Super 8s without the Aussies

ICC Twenty20 Cup

The 2nd edition of the ICC World Twenty20 has had its fair share of excitement so far. With some brutal hitting from batsmen,  clever bowling from bowlers and even a couple of upsets so far, this year’s Twenty20 sure promises a lot more  as it enters the Super 8’s phase.

The talking point of the tournament so far has been the first round exit of Australia. The holders of the ICC World Cup as well as the ICC Champions Trophy came last in a group also consisting of West Indies and Sri Lanka, definitely the Group of Death. While Australia still remains a dominant force in other forms of Cricket, it is yet to come to grips with the quickest version. The Aussies, undoubtedly, have some of the world’s best cricketers in Ricky Ponting, Michael Clarke, Mike Hussey and Brett Lee. However, Ponting’s first ball duck and Chris Gayle’s demolition of Brett Lee in their very first match proved that the Aussies need to figure out how to adapt to the slam bang version of Cricket. Shane Watson and Nathan Bracken have been their best twenty-20 players and the Australians need to find more such utility players.

Probably, the Aussies had one eye on the upcoming Ashes and therefore lacked focus on the task at hand. The early exit from the tournament robs them of more Cricket in England and therefore better acclimatisation to the English conditions, the venue for this year’s Ashes.  The loss of Andrew Symonds just before the tournament kicked off was  also a big blow. He had a brilliant IPL 2 and would have had a definite impact on the Aussie results. What the Aussies also lacked was match practice. While almost all top international cricketers honed their skills in IPL 2, most of the Australians opted out of the tournament in order to rest for the Twenty20 Cup. They can rest as much as they wish, now that they have been knocked out.

In the Super 8s, India and South Africa look to be the most likely teams to go through from their group. India have had it rather easy in the group stage, having faced Bangladesh and Ireland. But their clinical display in both the matches proved that they are in good shape. It will be interesting to see how the defending champions respond if and when they come under pressure from a tougher opponent. South Africa went bonkers against Scotland and one almost felt pity for the Scottish team. They followed that up with a brilliant bowling and fielding display in the next match to defend a a low score against New Zealand. A major ICC trophy has always eluded them and maybe it is time for them to set the record straight. West Indies rely on an explosive start from Chris Gayle while England’s fortunes depend heavily on Kevin Peterson.  While both men are capable of winning matches single-handedly, expecting them to do it time and again is  stretching it a bit too far.

In the other group, Sri Lanka look the strongest. Sri Lanka seems to have the most complete unit with variations in both batting and bowling. Tilakratne Dilshan has been a relevation since the IPL 2 and Ajantha Mendis seems to be in fine form too. Having beaten both Australia and West Indies to top the Group of Death,  the Sri Lanka team look like a force to reckon with. New Zealand will probably stake its claim for the other semi-final spot. Pakistan, though, is a highly unpredictable team and are capable of springing up a surprise. The other team, Ireland, will feel that it has  attained the objective  it had set for the Twenty20 cup by qualifying for the Super 8s. Ireland had burst into limelight when they beat Pakistan in the the ICC World Cup 2007 and qualified for the Super 8.  They came through in this year’s tournament at the expense of Bangladesh, who would feel disappointed not having repeated their performance  in  the tournament’s first edition, where they qualified for the Super 8 .